1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and tape carrier, and a method of manufacturing the same, to a circuit board, an electronic instrument, and a tape carrier manufacturing device.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, with the increasingly compact nature of electronic instruments, there has been a large demand for compact semiconductor devices in which CSP (Chip Scale/Size Package) technology is applied. For the manufacture of such compact semiconductor devices, TAB (Tape Automated Bonding) technology can be applied. Since TAB technology can be carried out using a tape carrier in a reel-to-reel process, it is appropriate to quantity production of semiconductor devices.
However, TAB technology was not developed with semiconductor devices as compact as those of today in mind, and there is therefore further room for improvement.
For example, a semiconductor device fabricated with the application of conventional TAB technology has outer leads as external electrodes, whereas in CSP, solder balls are used as external electrodes. A method which exploits the features of TAB technology, while efficiently providing solder balls has not yet been developed.
If there should be a fault in a part of the tape carrier, which requires a very fine interconnect pattern, it is necessary to remove the bad portion and join the remainder together. On a tape carrier with a dense interconnect pattern, the cutting must be carried out on the interconnect pattern, and at the join, adhesive tape or the like is provided for the joining. Therefore, the mounting of a semiconductor chip or the formation of solder balls cannot be carried out at the join, but a reel-to-reel process is carried out continuously, and as a result it has not been possible to avoid just this area.
The present invention solves these problems, and has as its object the provision of a method of efficiently manufacturing a semiconductor device, a semiconductor device manufactured by this method, a tape carrier used in this method and a method of manufacture thereof, a circuit board, an electronic instrument, and a tape carrier manufacturing device.
(1) A method of manufacturing a tape carrier as one aspect of the present invention comprises:
an examination step in which a tape carrier having a bonding portion formed in a matrix form and at least one type of identification mark is examined;
a step of removing a portion which includes a defective location detected in the examination step, and then joining together remaining portions of the tape carrier after the removal; and
a step of forming a join mark delimiting a matrix in which a join formed in the joining step is positioned.
In this aspect of the present invention, to one bonding portion, one semiconductor chip is connected. A bonding portion refers to the portion to which an individual semiconductor chip is connected. For example, it may include lands for connecting the electrodes of the semiconductor chip, lands for forming external electrodes, and interconnects connecting these lands.
According to this aspect of the present invention, in the width direction of the tape carrier, a plurality of bonding portions is formed in a row, and therefore in the width direction a plurality of semiconductor chips can be mounted, and the semiconductor device can be fabricated in quantity. The manufacturing process can be advanced for each matrix delimited by the identification mark.
Further, in this aspect of the present invention, a defective location discovered by the examination of the tape carrier is cut out from the tape carrier, thus tape carrier is separated. The separated tape carrier is then rejoined again. As a result, a join is formed in the tape carrier, but the matrix in which this join is positioned is shown by a join mark. Therefore, by carrying out subsequent processes excluding the matrix delimited by the join mark, flowing of the solder balls by the adhesive tape or the like provided on the join can be prevented. In this way, efficient quantity production of the semiconductor device is possible.
(2) In this manufacturing method, the join mark may be formed by punching out the identification mark.
(3) In this manufacturing method, the identification mark may be formed simultaneously with the bonding portion, the identification mark being formed of the same material and by the same method as the bonding portion.
By this means, the identification mark can be formed simply, without increasing the number of steps.
(4) In this manufacturing method, the tape carrier may have at least two types of the identification mark of different forms which are detected by different examination means.
(5) A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device as another aspect of the present invention comprises:
an examination step in which a tape carrier having a plurality of bonding portions formed in a matrix form and at least two types of identification marks is examined;
a step of removing a portion which includes a defective location detected in the examination step, and then joining together remaining portions of the tape carrier after the removal;
a step of forming a join mark delimiting a matrix in which a join formed in the joining step is positioned; and
a step of electrically connecting each of the plurality of bonding portions to a corresponding of a plurality of semiconductor chips, excluding a region delimited by the join mark.
According to this aspect of the present invention, in the width direction of the tape carrier, a plurality of bonding portions is formed in a row. A semiconductor chip is mounted on each bonding portion, so that a plurality of semiconductor chips are mounted in the width direction, and the semiconductor device can be fabricated in quantity.
The manufacturing process can be advanced for each matrix delimited by the identification marks.
In this aspect of the present invention, a defective location discovered by the examination of the tape carrier is cut out from the tape carrier, thus tape carrier is separated. The separated tape carrier is then rejoined. As a result, a join is formed in the tape carrier, but the matrix in which this join is positioned, is indicated by a join mark. Then, excluding the matrix delimited by the join mark, a semiconductor chip is mounted on each bonding portion.
(6) This method of manufacturing a semiconductor device may further comprise:
a step of excluding the region delimited by the join mark, and forming a plurality of external electrodes simultaneously for the plurality of semiconductor chips for each matrix.
By means of this, for each matrix, a plurality of external electrodes is formed simultaneously for each of the plurality of semiconductor chips. By forming the external electrodes simultaneously for the plurality of semiconductor chips, the adaptability to quantity production is improved. This step is carried out excluding the region delimited by the join mark. Therefore, flowing of the solder balls by the adhesive tape or the like provided on the join can be prevented. In this way, efficient quantity production of the semiconductor device is possible.
(7) In this method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, the forms of the at least two types of identification marks may be different, and the identification marks may be detected by different examination means.
(8) A tape carrier as further aspect of the present invention has bonding portions formed in a matrix form on a substrate, and identification marks which delimit the bonding portions regularly in pluralities of rows and columns are formed.
According to this aspect of the present invention, in the width direction of the tape carrier, a plurality of bonding portions is formed in a row, and in the width direction a plurality of semiconductor chips can be mounted, and the semiconductor device can be fabricated in quantity. The manufacturing process can be advanced for each matrix delimited by the identification marks.
(9) In the tape carrier of this aspect of the present invention,
a join may be formed by connecting together remaining portions caused by cutting; and
a join mark may be formed in a delimited portion including the join.
Further, in this aspect of the present invention, a defective location discovered by the examination of the tape carrier is cut out from the tape carrier, thus tape carrier is separated. The separated tape carrier is then rejoined, so that a join is formed in the tape carrier. The matrix in which the join is positioned is indicated by a join mark. Therefore, by carrying out subsequent processes excluding the matrix delimited by the join mark, flowing of the solder balls by the adhesive tape or the like provided on the join can be prevented. In this way, efficient quantity production of the semiconductor device is possible.
(10) In the tape carrier of this aspect of the present invention, the join mark may be formed by punching out any of the identification marks.
By this means, a join mark can be formed easily, and the identification marks and join marks can be recognized simultaneously.
(11) In the tape carrier of this aspect of the present invention, there may be at least two types of the identification marks of different forms, and the identification marks may be detected by different examination means.
(12) A semiconductor device as yet further aspect of the present invention is manufactured by the above-described method.
(13) A circuit board as yet further aspect of the present invention has the above-described semiconductor device which is mounted thereon.
(14) An electronic instrument as yet further aspect of the present invention has the above-described circuit board.
(15) A tape carrier manufacturing device as yet further aspect of the present invention comprises:
carrying means for carrying a tape carrier having a plurality of identification marks; and
a plurality of detection means for detecting the plurality of identification marks,
wherein the plurality of detection means are detection devices detecting the identification marks by different detection methods.
(16) In this tape carrier manufacturing device:
one of the plurality of detection means may be a detection device for detecting by means of light.
(17) In this tape carrier manufacturing device:
one of the plurality of detection means may be a detection device for detecting by means of image processing.
By means of this, identification can be possible by means of an identification mark capable of visual recognition.
(18) In this tape carrier manufacturing device:
one of the plurality of detection means may be a detection device for detecting by means of a pin.
By means of this, identification can be possible by means of an identification mark capable of mechanical recognition.